Compare Version Numbers

Walk both version strings component by component between dots. For each component, skip leading zeroes, identify the remaining digit span, then compare first by digit count and then lexicographically; this avoids overflow when a component is too large for an integer. An absent component is equivalent to zero, so continue until both inputs are exhausted rather than stopping at the shorter version. If you do parse numeric values, only do so when bounds guarantee safety. Examples such as 1.01 versus 1.001 and 1.0 versus 1.0.0 expose the important cases. Do not use floating-point parsing because revisions are sequences, not decimals. Each character is scanned a constant number of times: O(n + m) time and O(1) extra space.